Various gum stimulators are known in the art for promoting dental health. These typically comprised soft rubber conically shaped tips, such as those usually found on a toothbrush at an end opposite the brushing end. In some instances, the soft rubber tip stimulators have been mounted on their own handle devices rather than being incorporated with a toothbrush.
Such soft rubber gum stimulators are generally limited in their ability to stimulate gum tissue between teeth due to the inability to penetrate the interstitial spaces between the teeth. Also, such tips have limited flexibility as flexibility decreases as the thickness of the tip increases.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,187 to Castillo, a dental pick brush apparatus is disclosed, having a brush with radially outwardly extending bristles which extend from a bristle pin, with some bristles extending forwardly and others outwardly. A pick extends through the fiber bristles. The apparatus is designed to be used only once and disposed of.
Such a dental pick/brush combination has limited application as a gum stimulator as the insertion depth of the brush is limited by the thickness of the pick. Since the brush is primarily designed for cleaning teeth, the radial bristles have a limited ability to stimulate the gums.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,277 to Lewis, Jr., a plurality of prepackaged, fused synthetic tooth brushes is disclosed. In one figure, a toothbrush is shown having a single hollow fused circular tuft at one end. However, the brush is permanently mounted to the handle, and being composed of the same fibers as the toothbrush, is neither soft nor of high density. Such a brush is believed to have minimal value as a gum stimulator.